Electrical connectors (hereinafter, referred simply to as connector(s)) mounted on a circuit board (hereinafter, referred simply to as a board) such as a printed wiring board to connect the board to any other electrical circuit are generally known. These connectors include, as principal constituent elements, contacts and a housing for holding the contacts. Forming the connector, are generally, a female receptacle and a male plug. The receptacle has a tubular hood, and a plurality of contacts are arranged in this hood. The plug has a housing inserted into the hood, and this housing is provided with contacts that mate with the contacts of the receptacle connector.
To reduce the mating force for inserting the plug into the receptacle, a lever has been provided as shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-188663. The connector with a lever is provided so that the lever is rotatable with respect to the plug connector. By turning the end of the lever, a multiplying force draws the receptacle and plug toward each other and likewise separates them. By this multiplying force, the plug can be inserted into or pulled out of the receptacle by a smaller force applied to the lever.
Unfortunately, such conventional connector lever assemblies have a problem in that lever motion is often fouled by the wiring terminated in the plug, especially in situations where the wiring enters the plug at a right angle.
Also, it is common practice that after the plug has been mated with the receptacle by the multiplying force exerted by the pushing-down of the lever, a part of the lever is locked to the receptacle. In this case, when the plug is again removed from the receptacle after mating, right angle becomes a hindrance, and it sometimes becomes difficult to unlock the lever. Also, during shipping the wires may get caught or tangled between the lever and plug housing casing damage to the wire either in transit or afterwards in attempts to untangle them from the lever.